Friday, January 2, 2009

I had a lovely New Year with friends here in Belize. We got dressed up, hung out a while, then we went out for a little while. It was fun.

Yesterday was fabulous. It was a holiday and I got to lounge around the house and do nothing. Today I passed my PC vehicle orientation. It had been more than half a lifetime that I have driven anything other than an automatic. I was a bit nervous at first but did really well. YEA!!!

Actually, the last couple of weeks has been pretty chill. Most of the people from the office have been on vacation. Chanda and I have spent a good bit of time avoiding the seemingly constant rain showers by working from home most days or at a secondary project. I have been trying to decide what my secondary project is going to be. In the States I had occasionally volunteered at a humane society and have contemplated that. I now have Carlos and occasionally think about getting another dog to keep him company. He really enjoyed having Molly to play with while Erin was in the States. Because I have been thinking about another pooch I have also decided that working at the humane society would be a bad idea... Instead I have done a little bit of work with the Kings Children's Home near by. It is kind of heartbreaking to have the little ones just walk up to you and put their arms up for you to pick them up. When you sit there with them it doesn't take long for another kid to come over in hopes for attention as well. Anyway. At the beginning of their holiday break from school Melissa L, Ashley V, and I went over for a crafts night at the home. Most of the kids were well behaved. I was amazed with the number of kids who were excellent artists. Several of the kids made things for me, but most of it ended up being hung up in the home.

It didn't feel much like Christmas this year though it did get a bit chilly. I got to call my family and talk to nearly everyone. Unfortunately the phone line was not clear and it kept cutting out on Christmas day. I am sure it probably had to due with the number of people calling from here. Anyway, I felt lucky to even have to opportunity to call. Instead of being with my real family I got to spend the holiday with my Peace Corps family. I attempted to make some family favorite dishes. While nothing quite turned out like Mom's or Meme's everyone thought it turned out well. We decided that the sides are actually the favorites so we didn't have a meat- green bean casserole, mac and cheese, fried apples, corn (out of a can unfortunately), banana pudding, sausage gravy, biscuits, and cinnamon rolls... The gravy and biscuits were brunch, cinnamon rolls for a late lunch with left overs. We ate or lounged for both Christmas Eve and Day!